Kira Salak's Books

Four Corners

A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea

By: Kira Salak

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Four Corners

A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea

By: Kira Salak

Kira Salak undertook an epic, solo jungle trek across the remote Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea—often called the last frontier of adventure travel. Traveling by dugout canoe and on foot, confronting the dangers and wonders of a largely untouched world, she became the first woman to traverse PNG. Salak stayed in villages where cannibalism was still practiced behind the backs of the missionaries, meeting mysterious witch doctors and befriending the leader of the Free Papua guerrilla movement (OPM), who fought against the Indonesian occupation of Western New Guinea. The New York Times Book Review selected Four Corners as a Notable Travel Book of the Year, writing, "Kira Salak is tough, a real-life Lara Croft." Book Magazine called her "the gutsiest—and some say craziest—woman adventurer of our day." Edward Marriott proclaimed Four Corners to be "a travel book that transcends the genre. It is, like all the best travel narratives, a resonant interior journey, and offers wisdom for our times." Now published as an eBook for the first time by Restless Books, Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea is a must-read for world travelers and adventurous spirits. Praise for Four Corners "A luminously written, thoughtful account of a solo crossing of Papua New Guinea....Salak’s story offers vivid and informative commentary as it describes a region whose interior was only first explored in the 1930s....Exemplary travel-writing.” —Kirkus Reviews “Kira Salak is tough, a real life Lara Croft...unlike many travel writers, she is hip to her inner workings.” —The New York Times “The book is tense and packed with action, but it’s also deeply thoughtful: Why does she do the things she does? When will she stop pushing herself? Determined as she is to be tough, tougher than any man she encounters, Salak is also forced to confront the role gender plays in her travels.” —Outside Magazine “A gripping adventure story....A consistently interesting and well-written memoir.” —Publishers Weekly Kira Salak won the PEN Award for journalism for her reporting on the war in Congo, and she has appeared five times in Best American Travel Writing. A National Geographic Emerging Explorer and contributing editor for National Geographic Adventure magazine, she was the first woman to traverse Papua New Guinea and the first person to kayak solo 600 miles to Timbuktu. She is the author of three books—the critically acclaimed work of fiction, The White Mary, and two works of nonfiction: Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea (a New York Times Notable Travel Book) and The Cruelest Journey: Six Hundred Miles to Timbuktu. She has a Ph.D. in English, her fiction appearing in Best New American Voices and other anthologies. Her nonfiction has been published in National Geographic, National Geographic Adventure, Washington Post, New York Times Magazine, Travel & Leisure, The Week, Best Women's Travel Writing, The Guardian, and elsewhere. Salak has appeared on TV programs like CBS Evening News, ABC's Good Morning America, and CBC's The Hour. She lives with her husband and daughter in Germany.

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Page Count

426

Publisher

Restless Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1632060027

ISBN 13

9781632060020

The White Mary

A Novel

By: Kira Salak

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The White Mary

A Novel

By: Kira Salak

A young woman journeys deep into the untamed jungle, wrestling with love and loss, trauma and healing, faith and redemption, in this sweeping debut from "the gutsiest woman adventurer of our day" (Book Magazine) Marika Vecera, an accomplished war reporter, has dedicated her life to helping the world's oppressed and forgotten. When not on one of her dangerous assignments, she lives in Boston, exploring a new relationship with Seb, a psychologist who offers her glimpses of a better world. Returning from a harrowing assignment in the Congo where she was kidnapped by rebel soldiers, Marika learns that a man she has always admired from afar, Pulitzer-winning war correspondent Robert Lewis, has committed suicide. Stunned, she abandons her magazine work to write Lewis's biography, settling down with Seb as their intimacy grows. But when Marika finds a curious letter from a missionary claiming to have seen Lewis in the remote jungle of Papua New Guinea, she has to wonder, What if Lewis isn't dead? Marika soon leaves Seb to embark on her ultimate journey in one of the world's most exotic and unknown lands. Through her eyes we experience the harsh realities of jungle travel, embrace the mythology of native tribes, and receive the special wisdom of Tobo, a witch doctor and sage, as we follow her extraordinary quest to learn the truth about Lewis—and about herself, along the way.

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Page Count

380

Publisher

Henry Holt and Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

1429929561

ISBN 13

9781429929561

The White Mary

A Novel

By: Kira Salak

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The White Mary

A Novel

By: Kira Salak

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Page Count

380

Publisher

Henry Holt and Company

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ISBN 10

1429929561

ISBN 13

9781429929561

Four Corners

A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea

By: Kira Salak

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Four Corners

A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea

By: Kira Salak

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426

Publisher

Restless Books

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ISBN 10

1632060027

ISBN 13

9781632060020

The Cruellest Journey

600 Miles by Canoe to the Legendary City of Timbuktu

By: Kira Salak

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The Cruellest Journey

600 Miles by Canoe to the Legendary City of Timbuktu

By: Kira Salak

In the beginning, my journeys feel at best ludicrous, at worst insane. This one is no exception.' Kira Salak recently became the first person to successfully canoe 600 miles down the River Niger from Old S gou to Timbuktu - the golden city of the Middle Ages, and, legend has it, the doorway to the end of the world - in Mali, West Africa. Enduring tropical storms, hippos, rapids, the unrelenting heat of the Sahara desert and the mercurial moods of this notorious river, she travelled alone through one of the most desolate regions in Africa where little had changed since British explorer Mungo Park was taken captive by Moors in 1797. Dependent on local people for food and shelter, each night she came ashore to stay in remote mud-hut villages on the Niger's banks, meeting Dogon sorceresses and tribes who were alternately wqelcoming and hostile, so remarkable was the sight of an unaccompanied white woman paddling all the way to Timbuktu. In one instance she barely escaped from men who chased after her in wooden canoes, but she finally arrived, weak but triumphant, at her fabled destination. There, she fulfilled her ultimate goal by buying the freedom of two Bella slaves with gold. THE CRUELLEST JOURNEY is a compelling memoir and a meditation on self-will by a young adventurer without equal, whose writing is as thrilling as her life.

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Age

Page Count

274

Publisher

Bantam Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0593053249

ISBN 13

9780593053249

Book's by Kira Salak

Four Corners

Four Corners

The White Mary

The White Mary

The White Mary

The White Mary

Four Corners

Four Corners

The Cruellest Journey

The Cruellest Journey

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